FCC to Regulate “Profane” Speech

Ernest Miller writes “The FCC has been regulating “indecent” speech for quite some time. Now, for the first time, they have declared Bono’s phrase “This is really, really f-ing brilliant” during last year’s Golden Globes to be not only indecent, but also “profane.” According to the FCC, any speech that is grossly offensive, whether or not it has anything to do with sex or execretion, is “profane.” This is a major step forward (backward?) for FCC censors. My analysis is here.”

March 19, 2004 by Uncategorized 2

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2 Responses

  1. ChuckB says:
    March 20, 2004 at 10:49 am

    Note on the politics of indecency

    (“Politics” to be understood here in its common sense, not in the currently fashionable post-modern sense.)

    TelevisionWeek reports on March 9 that the Senate Commerce Committee “voted 23-0 to approve legislation that would raise fines for indecent broadcasts to as much as $500,000 and for the first time in history could subject violent TV programming whether originating on broadcast, basic cable or satellite TV channels to the same punishment.” Nota bene that all eleven Democrats on the committee joined the twelve Republicans in voting for this measure.

    I discovered this via this posting by Glenn Reynolds, who also points out that “FCC Commissioner Michael Copps (a Democrat appointed by Bush — can’t get more bipartisan than that!) suggested in an interview in 2002 that the FCC was looking for an egregious case that it could use to reestablish decency regulation.“

    I am not suggesting that the bipartisan support for these measures shows that they are justified. Nonetheless, anyone interested in (for example) questions of filtering in libraries would do well to be aware of this kind of news.

    Reply
  2. rochelle says:
    March 21, 2004 at 2:10 am

    Seven Dirty Words
    In case you’re not clear about what will get your mouth washed out with soap by the FCC, here’s a list, courtesy of George Carlin, via Wikipedia.

    Reply

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